Determination of fuse life in a fuse system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016299186-A1
Application number	US-201514681197-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Apr 8, 2015
Priority date	Apr 8, 2015
Publication date	Oct 13, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

A fuse system includes a fuse element configured to receive a current. A controller is operatively connected to the fuse element and has a processor and tangible, non-transitory memory on which is recorded instructions for executing a method for determining a remaining fuse life (L R ) of the fuse element. Execution of the instructions by the processor causes the controller to determine a temperature (T) of the fuse element. The fuse system may be part of a vehicle. The controller may be configured to determine if the remaining fuse life is below first and second thresholds. If the remaining fuse life is above the second threshold, a first message may be displayed to a vehicle display. If the remaining fuse life is below the second threshold, the vehicle may be shifted to a predefined alternative operating mode.

First claim

1 . A fuse system comprising:
a fuse element configured to receive a current; a controller operatively connected to the fuse element and having a processor and tangible, non-transitory memory on which is recorded instructions for executing a method for determining a remaining fuse life (L) of the fuse element; and wherein execution of the instructions by the processor causes the controller to determine at least one temperature (T) of the fuse element.

2 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the fuse element defines a resistance (R) and a heat capacity (C P ), and wherein said determining the at least one temperature (T) of the fuse element includes:
determining a current (I) received by the fuse element; and converting the current (I) to the at least one temperature (T), based at least partially on the resistance (R) and the heat capacity (C P ) of the fuse element and an ambient temperature (T A ).

3 . The system of claim 1 , further comprising:
one or more temperature sensors operatively connected to respective zones of the fuse element and configured to provide respective temperature readings for the respective zones; wherein said determining the at least one temperature (T) of the fuse element includes:
obtaining the respective temperature readings from the one or more temperature sensors; and
obtaining the at least one temperature (T) of the fuse element as a weighted average of the respective temperature readings.

4 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the controller is configured to convert the at least one temperature (T) of the fuse element to a strain value (S).

5 . The system of claim 4 , wherein the controller is configured to:
convert the strain value (S) to a used fuse life (U); and convert the used fuse life (U) to the remaining fuse life (L).

6 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the controller is deactivated at an initial time from a first wake cycle and then activated after a key-off time duration (t 0 ) from the initial time; and wherein execution of the instructions by the processor causes the controller to:
obtain a last-known temperature delta of the fuse element, the last-known temperature delta being a last-known temperature difference from the first wake cycle between the fuse element and an ambient temperature; and determine a correction factor (CF) based at least partially on the key-off time duration (t 0 ) and a predefined constant (τ).

7 . The system of claim 6 , wherein the correction factor (CF) is defined as the exponential of the key-off time duration (t o ) divided by a predefined constant (τ) (CF=e (−t0/τ) .

8 . A vehicle comprising:
at least one battery component configured to store energy; a fuse element operatively connected to the at least one battery component and configured to receive a current; a controller operatively connected to the fuse element and having a processor and tangible, non-transitory memory on which is recorded instructions for executing a method for determining a remaining fuse life (L) of the fuse element; and wherein execution of the instructions by the processor causes the controller to determine at least one temperature (T) of the fuse element.

9 . The vehicle of claim 8 , wherein the fuse element defines a resistance (R) and a heat capacity (C P ), and wherein said determining at least one temperature (T) of the fuse element includes:
determining the current (I) received by the fuse element; and converting the current (I) to the temperature (T), based at least partially on the on the resistance (R) of the fuse element, the ambient temperature (T A ) and the heat capacity (C P ) of the fuse element.

10 . The vehicle of claim 8 , further comprising:
one or more temperature sensors operatively connected to respective zones of the fuse element and configured to provide respective temperature readings for the respective zones; wherein said determining at least one temperature (T) of the fuse element includes:
obtaining the respective temperature readings from the one or more temperature sensors;
obtaining the temperature (T) of the fuse element as a weighted average of the respective temperature readings.

11 . The vehicle of claim 8 , wherein the controller is deactivated at an initial time from a first wake cycle and then activated after a key-off time duration (t 0 ) from the initial time; and wherein execution of the instructions by the processor causes the controller to:
obtain a last-known temperature delta of the fuse element, the last-known temperature delta being a last-known temperature difference from the first wake cycle between the fuse element and an ambient temperature; and determine a correction factor (CF) based at least partially on the key-off time duration (t 0 ) and a predefined constant (τ).

12 . The vehicle of claim 11 , wherein the correction factor (CF) is defined as the exponential of the negative of the key-off time duration (t o ) divided by a predefined constant (τ) (CF=e (−t0/τ) .

13 . The vehicle of claim 8 , wherein the controller is configured to convert the at least one temperature (T) of the fuse element to a strain value (S).

14 . The vehicle of claim 13 , wherein the controller is configured to:
convert the strain value (S) to a used fuse life (U); and convert the used fuse life (U) to the remaining fuse life (L).

15 . The vehicle of claim 8 , further comprising a vehicle display and wherein execution of the instructions by the processor further causes the controller to:
determine if the remaining fuse life is below a first threshold; if the remaining fuse life (L) is below the first threshold, determine if the remaining fuse life is below a second threshold; if the remaining fuse life (L) is above the second threshold, display a first message on the display; and if the remaining fuse life (L) is below the second threshold, shift the vehicle to a predefined alternative operating mode, the predefined limited operating mode being configured to limit the current received by the fuse element.

16 . The vehicle of claim 15 , wherein the first threshold is 20% life remaining and the second threshold is 5% life remaining.

17 . A method for determining a remaining fuse life for a fuse element in a vehicle having a controller, the method comprising:
obtaining a current (I) received by the fuse element via a current-measuring device; determining at least one temperature (T) of the fuse element based at least partially on the current (I), via a controller; and converting via a controller:
the temperature (T) of the fuse element to a strain value (S);
the strain value (S) to a used fuse life (U); and
the used fuse life (U) to the remaining fuse life (L).

18 . The method of claim 17 , wherein the vehicle includes a display and further comprising:
determining if the remaining fuse life (L) is below a first threshold; if the remaining fuse life (L) is below the first threshold, determining if the remaining fuse life (L) is below a second threshold, via a controller; if the remaining fuse life (L) is above the second threshold, displaying a first message on the display; and if the remaining fuse life (L) is below the second threshold, shifting the vehicle to a predefined alternative operating mode, the predefined alternative operating mode being configured to limit the current received by the fuse element.

Assignees

• Gm Global Tech Operations Llc

Inventors

• Fan Yue
• Chamlal Salah
• Patel Shital
• Rabaa Rashed S
• Baughman Andrew C

Classifications

• G01R31/74 Primary

  Testing of fuses · CPC title

• G01R31/07 Primary

  Physics · mapped topic